Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-10-05

assured mir. What he was saying to him
self. I believe, was that no one knew except
CAPT. Pollard, and he certainly could not
tell. Nobody KNEW Why, within q
short six feet of where he stood was the
girl he had so foully wronged burning to
be avenged.
He tied the bag Of money which Mr..
Mallock had left with him tightly, and
taking q short. thick poker which stood
beside the andirons, he pried up the
hearthstone. There he deposited the bag
and replaced the stone carefully, taking
the precaution to sweep ashes over the
edges so as to conceal the fact of its recent
removal. We all used the hearthstone
for our bank and we all went through the
same formality of trying to hide the fact.
This done, hc looked around him again
and siehed-with another thought Of his
villainy, suppose-and seized the stone
bottle which held the brandy. One, two,
three glasses in succession OF raw spirit.
Was this his nightly custom or was he
seeking to drown remorse? Then ne TOOK
tho candle, opened the door which stood
at the bottom of the stairs and stumbled
ND to his bedroom. 1t seemed to me that
Joshua was likely to sleep heavily after
all that brandy. ..,,.,..,..s :,
aIswaited below, motionless; until the
light was extinguished. Then began
cautiously to see if could open the win
dow. The shutter was not secured, as l
said before. The window was upon
hinges and opened inward. 1t was q
heavy window, consisting of small square
panes of thick glass set in lead. lifted
the latch which fastened it by means OF a
small twig. The window fell open; l
waited for moment to sec If Joshua was
reused and then climbed into the room.
What I was going to do was simply 10
rob Joshua. That was part of my revenge.
Not to get any advantage out OF the money
for myself at all, but just to deprive him
of it.
It was nothing to me being without o
light in the room. I knew exactly where
everything was. first bolted the door OF
the staircase. That would secure me
plenty of time for escape, should Joshua
be reused. Then I took the poker and
prised up the hearthstone cautiously.
Feeling in the dark, I discovered one, two,
three-eight bags, all tied up, and all
containing money. Now was quite Ger
tain, when laid my hands upon those
bags, that I was not only going to take
some of Joshua's money, but all OF 1t.
He kept his whole store-aQ his savings
in that hiding place. I ought, at this
length of time, to feel ashamed ut the
baseness of my revenge-but I cannot.
The wrong was SO bitter, the villainy was
so unutterable, that have only to think
of my own feelings that night, and l
Justify myself ut once 1t was delightful
to me to feel that I was taking the whole
of his money. hoped that its loss would
ruin him. When the bags were all out, l
carefully put back the hearthstone.
Eight bags-there were no more. 1
laid them altogether on the table, felt in
the drawer for the ball Of string which
the practical mind of Joshua made him
always keep there, and tied them all to-
gether, and attached about three yards OF
string by which to hang them in their
place.
There must have been good sum OF
money in the whole, because the bags
were pretty heavy to carry. I dropped
them cautiously out Of window, crept out
side myself and carried away the bags.
The great undershot wheel Of the mill
occupied, as we know already, one end
of the building which formed both mill
and cottage. It stood there under a
broad, sloping penthouse of heavy thatch
which made it dark in the brightest day.
Once, long before, when the wheel was
stopped for some repairs, I held it in its
place by q wooden spoke and amused
myself by climbing to the top under this
projecting roof. It was a girls trick,
and rather a dangerous one. / got no
good, not even the nest which expected
to find; but I saw hidden away in the
darkness a great hook stuck in the wall.
What it was originally placed there for
+ do not know, but it was so high up,
so hidden by the wheel and the black
shadows of the roof, that it was quite
invisible from below. That was the place
for my bags First succeeded by tying
a spoke Of the wheel to one Of the beams
in the wood work in keeping the wheel,
over which the water was no longer run
ming, motionless while I climbed up.
Then I mounted the wheel, which was
now like ladder, and clambered up
three or four Of the undershot buckets
till could reach the wall close under the
roof. Here I felt about in the darkness
till found the hook, and then tying the
end of the string securely to it lowered
the bags slowly into the black water be-
meath. I heard above the noise of the
falling water the splash of the bags,
felt them touch the bottom, and then with
great gladness in my heart, thinking OF
Joshua's rage when he should find out
his loss, cautiously descended from the
perilous perch, united the spoke and con-
sidered what to do next.
The first temptation-a childish one
was to hurl stones at his bedroom win.
dow, so as to awaken him and bring him
down, but abandoned that idea, as an.
other and q more brilliant one occurred
to me.
Joshua had sold twenty kegs out Of the
cargo to Mr.. Manock, the justice of the
peace. No doubt he had arranged, or was
arranging, for the sale of all the rest. Nc
doubt, too, he intended adding the pro-
ceeds of this transaction to the pile-aha
the pile beneath the hearthstone.
I set Off to run almost the whole Of the
way back to Rousdon, under the impulse
of this new idea, which filled my mind
1t was about II o'clock, as I should judge
It took me nearly an hour before got tc
Rousdon farm. had business to do, and
there would be no thought of bed for me
that night. But first I went into the
house, found some supper, and procured
certain handy tools necessary for my pur'
pose.
Had time to do it? 1t had taken nearly
four hours to remove the cargo of the
Dancing Polly from the boat to the hiding
place; could 1 do what I proposed in six?
Iwould try.
There certainly was no stronger CIR
than myself along tho whole shore. The
life had led in the open air-the rowing
sailing and fishing; tho gardening, the
rambles and climbs among the crags Of the
Holmbush fields and Pinhay point; the
sea bathing, the generous but simple diet
all these, added to q physique to which
dame nature had been generous, made me
active and muscular above the average
even of young women living like myself
Yet it was heavy task which proposed
to effect.
1t was nothing less than to carry every
single keg down to the sea shore, turn ou
the contents, fill them with sea water ant
carry them back again. Fifty kegs a
least. Two hundred journeys up ant
down that steep cliff, each time with
weighty burden. But the thought o
Joshua's CONSERVATION when he should
discover it gave ME courage.
When I had got all but six or sever
down the cliff another thought struck me
There were the two kegs for my inform
ant, John Beer. 1t would not be fair II
give him sea water, after the service HI